Ross Kemp: I would like to make a TV documentary about the Grenfell Tower tragedy

Saturday, July 08, 2017 - 08:31 AM

Presenter Ross Kemp has said he would like to create an investigative TV documentary looking into the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Bafta-winning journalist, known for his hard-hitting Extreme World films, said he would like to focus on major UK events in a future series.

He is currently looking for a new broadcaster after it was announced Sky 1 would be dropping the show.

Kemp, 52, told the Press Association: “It’s an ever-changing world and there are loads of subjects I would love to do.

Grenfell Tower (David Mirzoeff/PA)

“There are always issues in the UK that I would like to cover… the amount of stabbings we’ve had in London recently is off the scale and I don’t think enough is being done about that, but in the light of what’s happened recently, in terms of the Grenfell Tower fire and the Manchester and London terror attacks, it has been overshadowed.”

Asked if he would consider looking into those subjects, he said: “If I’ve got a broadcaster then of course I will, but there’s no point me doing it on my own because I’ll just have to do it on my iPhone.

“I would rather do it justice with a proper cameraman and have a platform to broadcast it on.”

His sixth and final Extreme World season will begin on Sunday and the first episode will see him and his camera crew explore racial divisions and gang violence in the US.

He will meet black gang members, white supremacists, prison inmates and police officers as he looks into whether southern states such as Texas are facing the possibility of a future race war.

“You are 90% more likely to be shot dead by a policeman if you are young and black, and that is staggering,” he said.

“I’m not completely blaming the police for this, but perhaps it is a failure of society in general.”

After making the film in the same week that Donald Trump was voted as US president, he suggested the new White House leader’s controversial election campaign strategy could be linked to a rise in extremism.

He explained: “The worrying thing is that because he is so un-presidential, so reactionary… it would appear that he is in a way legitimising people with extreme views, because his views are extreme.

“We knew there had been a rise (of Trump supporters) because of the election campaigning of these extreme groups, who seemed to have been given a larger platform because of the way that Trump’s campaign had been run.

“Even minority groups were widening their voice because they fear what might be coming.”

Other episodes in the six-part series will see him investigate vigilante culture in the West Bank, the Camorra mafia in Naples and cattle farmers terrorised by bandits in Madagascar.

Ross Kemp: Extreme World starts on Sunday July 9 at 9pm on Sky1 and Now TV.